Vegas rated 10th best city for Hispanics

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

Jobs are important, but so is lengua.

That means tongue in Spanish, but it's also the name of a bread Guatemalans eat. And being able to buy lengua at her neighborhood supermarket is one of the things Irma Sazo, who is Guatemalan, likes about living in Las Vegas.

Sazo held up the bread, the size and shape of a cow's tongue, on Thursday at Liborio's, a Cuban-owned supermarket that opened six months ago on Lamb Boulevard near Washington Avenue. Along with Sazo, there are an estimated 368,000-plus Hispanics living in the Las Vegas Valley, many of whom feel at home because they can find jobs, affordable housing -- and their version of lengua.

And those are some of the reasons Hispanic magazine -- a national monthly with a circulation of 270,000 -- ranked Las Vegas as No. 10 on its annual list of "Top 10 Cities for Hispanics" in its August issue. Miami was numero uno and the rest of the list filled out with Southwestern cities, except for Chicago, which finished just ahead of Las Vegas at No. 9.

The rankings were based on "job opportunities, a maintainable cost of living, strong education systems, a powerful political voice, and a sense of heritage," according to the magazine, soon to hit newsstands.

The magazine's entry under Las Vegas said the city is undergoing "Hispanic hypergrowth," and mentioned its often-trumpeted jobs, high wages, low cost of living and low taxes as factors.

The magazine has compiled the list since 1996, and Las Vegas made the grade on at least one other occasion -- in 1999, also at No. 10.

The news of the ranking was greeted with bravos from the valley's everyday Hispanics and movers and shakers alike.

Some mentioned that good news about Las Vegas was welcomed, since the valley is featured on so many negative lists, such as those for suicide rates and high-school dropout rates.

Still, others thought the city deserved to have been ranked higher on the magazine's list.

"I'm surprised that we're not closer to No. 1," said Tony Alamo, Mandalay Resort Group senior vice president, a Cuban native and a Las Vegas resident since 1974.

Alamo, who has supported many Hispanic candidates for office over the years, said politics was one of the only areas of life in the valley where Hispanics haven't yet made inroads.

"But the time will come when (Hispanics) will make a political impact," he said.

Otherwise, he said, the city has plenty to draw Hispanics.

"We have the high income per capita, employment for skilled and unskilled workers ... and culturally more to relate to as more Hispanics come to live here," he said.

Culture includes food, and Sazo, with her boyfriend, Alberto Perez, also pointed to a cinnamon-flavored bread as additional evidence of the welcome mat Las Vegas has rolled out to Hispanics in recent years.

"It used to be that you couldn't get these things here, and had to go to Los Angeles," Perez said. "Now that's not true anymore."

Los Angeles was No. 8 on Hispanic magazine's list, but several of the people shopping at Liborio's Thursday had moved here from that city -- including Perez and Sazo.

"We lived in Los Angeles 12 years and we could never buy a house there," said Juan Enriquez, whose wife, Mayra, was choosing between Salvadoran, Argentinean and Colombian sausages while he spoke.

"Here we could."

Mayra said it was also easier to find work here, and at higher wages. She is a housekeeper at the Flamingo hotel-casino; Juan works as a cab mechanic.

At the other end of the economic spectrum, Tony Sanchez, an attorney and president of the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce -- the third largest in the Southwest, with 1,200 members -- said he was "proud that we're making inroads on this list."

"Our community is only growing in the last decade ... and it's unabated, so I'm sure we'll continue to stay on the list," he said.

The business leader said he hoped the article would draw attention to the city and bring "more businesses and more workers."

Sanchez also said it was good to receive some good news, "since the overall community is on so many bad lists."

Aldo Aguirre, who owns Celebrity Media, a company that syndicates a radio show taped in Las Vegas to four Central American countries, as well as to cities throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, said the importance of families in Hispanic culture will guarantee that Las Vegas will continue to be on the Top 10 list of many immigrants.

"People will find networks of friends and family that draw more people," he said.

Aguirre also mentioned food.

"One of the attractions to Las Vegas is you find the panaderia, el restaurante, the fresh-cut poultry -- which makes ... the city a place where you can continue your traditions and customs while adjusting to the new land and culture.

"That gives us a peacefulness ... when we enter our homes."